hering all be discussed in detail.The major
hering Heights?In the novel Wuthering Heights there was one character who had a dominating influenceon the way the novel went.
Her name was Catherine Earnshaw and even after she died she stillleft a lasting impression on the people around her and after she was gone people still made somedecisions based on her. While she was alive she had Heathcliff and Edgar rapped around herfinger; she could have made them do anything she wanted and sometimes she did. WhileCatherine was dying Heathcliff spent the most time with her and she knew that at that point hewould do anything for her and she used that against him. There are many examples of Cathysdominance in the novel and they will all be discussed in detail.The major instance of Catherines dominance is one that continues through the entirenovel and that is her influence over Heathcliff.
Catherine acquires this grasp over Heathcliff bytelling him that he is not good enough for her and that he is also not civilized enough for her tomarry him. To make Heathcliff even more desperate Catherine decides she will get married toEdgar instead of Heathcliff; she is nave enough to think that by doing so she will be able to liftHeathcliff from the degradation into which he has been thrust by Hindley. When in fact thismakes Heathcliff very jealous and he goes away to make him self more refined for Catherine. When Heathcliff returns to find Catherine has married Edgar it sends him over the edge he getsfurious and revenge is on his mind. He thinks that if he marries Isabella that it would bringCatherine back into his arms. Of course this does not work it only succeeds in making Edgarfurious.
Edgar disowns Isabella and tells Catherine she is not allowed to see Heathcliff, thisenrages Catherine and she locks herself in her room with no food or water. She hopes that thiswould change Edgars mind as well as give her the sympathy that she craved. Her plan did notwork and she became very ill; Heathcliff snuck in to see Catherine a number of times because hewas the one who felt sorry for her and was willing to risk his life to be with her which was justwhat Catherine had in mind. After Catherine died Heathcliff commands her to haunt himsaying, I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul! Catherine had such adominating impact on Heathcliff that he could not let her die he wanted her soul to be with himalways.
An example of Catherines dominating presence even after her death made Heathcliffcome up with a plan to take control of both Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange.Catherines death forced Heathcliff into a rage where he came up with a plan to get back atEdgar for marrying Catherine and not taking better care of her. One of the things he decided todo was take control of Wuthering Heights from her brother Hindley. He accomplished this bygetting Hindley drunk and having him a game of cards in which Heathcliff won the deed toWuthering Heights. Next Heathcliff would get Thrushcross Grange taking his revenge on Edgar,he accomplished this by getting young Cathy Linton to marry his son Linton Heathcliff.
Thenonce Linton died Heathcliff was in control of both Wuthering heights and Thrushcross Grange. Once Heathcliff had his plan completed he settled down in Wuthering Heights butCatherines presence never did settle down. Heathcliff often went into Catherines old room andsat on the bed calling Catherines name hoping she would answer. Catherines impact onHeathcliff changed Heathcliff so that he never concerned himself with anything else but hiswanting to be with Catherine. Her presence on him was so great that he would do anything so hecould be with her even after death. An example of this is when he invaded her grave and paidthe gravedigger to break the one side off her casket and turn her body facing in that direction. Heathcliff then paid the gravedigger to bury Heathcliff on that side of Catherine and break awaythe side of his casket and face him towards Catherines casket.
He did this because Heathcliffthought that if he did this that he and Catherine would be together forever because she had somuch influence on Heathcliff and he loved her so much that he could not even for one momentstop thinking about her. Heathcliff was now inviting death to come so he could finally be withCatherine. Catherines dominating presence mostly had an impact on Heathcliff but throughHeathcliff her presence had an impact on other people in the novel as well. An example of thisis Heathcliffs plan to gain control of both households. While he was doing this he not only gothis revenge on many people, he also destroyed many peoples lives in getting what he wanted.
Someone whos life Heathcliff destroyed as a result of Catherines presence is Lintons. Lintonwas an innocent young man until he was brought into the middle of Heathcliffs plan, then fromthere his fate was sealed and he would eventually die. Also because of Catherines dominatingimpact Heathcliff showed Edgar a huge sign of disrespect and Edgar was left out in the cold byhimself.
This was done when Heathcliff had the gravedigger turn Catherines body so it facedaway from Edgar, almost so it was like Cathy was ignoring Edgar. This was probably thebiggest sign of disrespect brought on by Heathcliffs love and obsession with Catherine evenafter she had died.In conclusion Catherines dominating presence played a major role in the novelWuthering Heights.
The person she affected the most was Heathcliff but her impact alsodevastated many other peoples lives as well. While Catherine was alive she was able to controlthe way her dominating presence effected others like Heathcliff to a certain extent. Then whenshe died her presence was much more known to the reader because it was soon apparent that thecontrol that was once there had gone and chaos was inevitable. Catherines dominating presencedefinitely gave the novel a much more in depth meaning and also made it a little moreinteresting because it made Heathcliff do all of those evil and underhanded things. Her impactin the novel made the story better because there was a sense of unpredictability that would keepthe reading on the edge of their seat.Bibliography?BIBLIOGRAPHYMitchell, Hayley.
Readings on Wuthering Heights. California: The Greenhaven Press, 1999.Grin, Winifred. Emily Bront. London: Oxford University Press, 1971.Daiches, David.
Twentieth Century Interpretations of Wuthering Heights. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Incorporated, 1968.James Janet.
Cliffs Notes on Bronts Wuthering Heights. Nebraska: Cliffs Notes Incorporated, 1979.Book Reports
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